The Powerhouse
by WaterbendingBabe
Summary: When life gives you lemons, make lemonaid. Thanks to the Olympics, gymnast Cindy Vortex plans to do just that. But it might be more difficult then she imagined. COMPLTELY redone! R&R! New Chapter up 7/11!
1. Flashback

**So I had the idea for this story after watching Shawn Johnson compete in the 2008 Bejing Olympics. This first part is a preface to the real thing, but this story needed a background shot. So you know the review please R&R!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron. But I wish I did!!**

_I've never had a dream. Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration. I've had dreams, but that was a long time ago. When I was a child and all you dreamed about was being a princess with tons of ponies, marrying a prince, and going off to live in a magical castle. But oh, how dreams are crushed! And how we all too soon awaken from that childhood trance of innocence._

_My awakening came on a cold day in November. I was only 9 at time, and my parents sat me down at the dinner table and told me they were getting a divorce. I didn't quite understand the full meaning of it. I knew that they had been fighting a lot more than usual. I said nothing, just nodded and went back upstairs. But that's where it all began._

_The worse thing about this was the custody battle. It seems that my parents hated each other so much that they couldn't even be within 3 miles of each other. Or at least, that's what my social worker, Ms. Almariz told me when I asked her why she was always the one dropping my off at either parents' house. But soon after, I couldn't go to either house. Either my dad was passed out drunk or my mom was with her boyfriend. I overheard Ms. Almariz say to Mrs. Folfax one night when I was staying with them, that she doubted that the custody case had ever been about me, but she suspected that it was merely a power struggle. That hurt, but not nearly as much as what happened a week later._

_Sigh. January 12. That day I will never forget. I was sitting in History when the principal called me down to his office. He sat me down and told me that he had something difficult to say. Personally, I thought that this just meant that I had to stay with the Folfax's again. He said no. _

_He sighed than and said, "Cindy, I hate to tell you this, but your social worker just called. It seems that your father was in a car accident, a very serious…"_

_"Is he okay?" I asked, even though I very well knew the answer to that._

_"No, he's, well,"_

_"Dead." I was surprised how very calm the words sounded._

_He nodded. "Yes, Ms. Almariz will be here to pick you up soon."_

_Ms. Almariz came in and took me down to her office. It was a quiet ride as neither of us said anything. We reached her office and she said that she was trying to contact some of my relatives. When I wondered why aloud, she looked quite uncomfortable. Finally she said it was for my custody. _

_"But why?" I argued. "Can't my mom…?"_

_"Cindy, sweetie, I hate to tell you this," she bit her lip but than continued, "your mother has given up all custody of you. She said that she didn't,"_

_"Want anything more to do with me?" I guessed. She nodded. Somehow, this news didn't surprise me. I just nodded. _

_"Okay."  
She glared at me suspiciously. I knew she was waiting for me to break down crying but I didn't. Couldn't. Wouldn't. I grabbed my backpack from the back of the chair and got up. _

_"Where are you-?"_

_"The center."_

_She sighed. "Very well. I'll come pick you up at…?"_

_"Seven. Seven will be fine."_

_That was all the more I said. I walked out of the office and out onto the street. It took me less than 10 minutes to walk to the Gymnastics Center. I walked through the door. I walked pass my coach, Wang Zhou's door. _

_"Cindy! What are you doing here?"_

_I paused to inform him, "My dad died in a car accident today and know I am going to go practice my floor routine. Ms. Almariz will be here to pick me up at seven, if that's alright."_

_He frowned, but nodded. He probably thought I was crazy, but that was okay with me. Right now, I just needed to get my mind off all of this, and gymnastics was the perfect way to do just that._

_I pulled on my leotard and walked out onto the floor. After a warm-up, I started on my floor routine. It felt good just to forget everything. All I needed to do was concentrate on my floor routine. 'Let's see double twisting double tuck, and then whip immediate triple full…'_

_"Cindy!" I looked up in surprise to see my Aunt Celia rushing towards me, arms wide._

_"Aunt Cici!" I cried, excited to see my favorite aunt._

_"Sweetheart!" She cried hugging me, "how are you doing?"_

_I shrugged. "It hasn't set in yet."_

_"Well, get dressed. We need to be off!"_

_"But I just got here!"_

_Coach Zhou laughed. "Not quite! Cin you've been working on that routine for almost 2 hours now!"_

_I frowned. "Are you sure?"_

_"Quite."_

_I don't quite remember the days after that. All the news set in that night as I lay in bed. After that, the time blurs together. I briefly remember the funeral, Aunt Celia gaining custody of me and promising to transfer jobs to her company's Retroville office…. But not much else. Well, I shouldn't say that, I remember getting my uneven bar dismount perfect. But that's only because I chose to dull the emotional pain with physical pain._

_A full 2 weeks later, I moved into my aunt's new apartment. It was small, but it had absolutely no bad memories. None. And my aunt actually cared about me, a step up from before._

_I spent my spare time either with Libby or practicing my gymnastics. I became obsessed those few weeks, and little did I know that my life was about to change forever because of those few weeks…_


	2. The Beginning

**Authors Note: Hello, anyone still there? I realize I haven't updated in awhile and I'm terribly sorry about that, so here's your update! Sorta. If you haven't noticed, I've decided to completely restructure this story. I started it two years ago and I feel my writing has gotten much, much better and the old chapters were just... not good. So while the first chapter remains the same, the ones following will be completely different and, hopefully, much improved. As always please R&R and I'll be updating again soon! -Lissie**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron! Boo!**

"_That's a very sad story."_

_Cindy Vortex rolled her eyes. "C'mon doc, you gotta be used to it by now."_

_Dr. Bliss smiled and shook her head. "You never get used to it."_

_Cindy sighed. "No I suppose not. Is that why my aunt sent me to you? So you could diagnose me?"_

_The psychiatrist shook her head. "She said that you needed someone to talk to. She also mentioned that you were having some issues since you got back."_

_The blonde gave a hollow laugh. "My issues started off long before then. I suppose it surprised you, the great Cindy Vortex showing up in your office."_

"_A little bit," Dr. Bliss admitted. "But then again, everyone knows your backstory."_

"_They do not." She growled. "They have no idea. They think they know. And what do they know? That I'm an orphan. They don't know any of the details. They don't know what happened that day, they don't know how I'm the least popular person in my high school, they don't know anything."_

"_Then tell me."_

_Cindy was silent for a moment before turning her green eyes to the woman. "Very well."_

It was the week before October and Cindy was standing at her locker when suddenly she heard her name. She looked up to see her best friend, Libby Folfax running down the hall towards her before coming to a screeching halt in front of her. The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Betty Quinlan's giving out the invitations to her Halloween party today!"

At the mention of the brunette's name, Cindy turned back to fumble in her locker. "Well, how delightful."

Libby sighed. "C'mon Cindy! It's the biggest event of the year!"

"Yes and?" Cindy turned to face her. "Face it Libs we know how this goes. She'll invite you on two reasoning's, one that you're Sheen's girlfriend and two, that it will make it that much more painful for me when I am, once again, the only person not to get an invitation."

"Cin-"

"C'mon Libs. Don't tell me she has you fooled to."

The mocha skinned beauty sighed and looked towards the ceiling. "I know." She whispered. "But Sheen's been dropping hints to her all week about inviting you and I thought that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different."

Cindy glanced over Libby's shoulder with a grimace. "Well we're about to find out. Here comes the moment of truth."

Libby turned to see Betty walking down the hallway giving out invitations to her party with Jimmy at her side. As she spotted Libby and Cindy her smile seemed to widen and she quickened her pace. Cindy groaned.

"Libby." She said as she reached them. "Cindy." She addressed the green-eyed girl with a touch of disdain while Cindy rolled her eyes. "I wanted to invite you to my Halloween party next weekend."

"Really?" Libby exclaimed, barely keeping the excitement out of her voice. She glanced at Cindy out of the corner of her eye. "And when you mean we-?"

"Sorry." Betty said, although she didn't sound sorry at all. "It's just that I can't invite to many people, fire codes and all that." She smirked. "You understand, don't you Cindy?"

Before Cindy could respond, Jimmy spoke up. "Fire codes? C'mon Betty, it's just one more person."

Betty glared at him. "Look my parents said I could only invite so many people okay?" She growled at her boyfriend. Jimmy fell silent and looked anywhere but at Cindy.

At this point, Cindy realized she was expected to answer. She merely shrugged. "Fine, whatever. I have a gymnastics meet that day anyway." She lied.

Libby turned to her. "What? Seriously? Who holds gymnastics meets on Halloween?"

"Apparently these people do." The blonde murmured as she turned back to her locker.

Everyone stood there for a moment more before Betty spoke up again. "Well, it's going to be a blast and I can't wait to see you there Libby! Everyone who's anyone will be there." At that statement, she glanced meaningly at Cindy who caught her gaze with a hostile one of her own. Libby narrowed her eyes and Jimmy started to speak up before Betty smirked and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the hallway.

Cindy and Libby stared after them before Libby spoke up. "Cin, if you don't want me to go to the party…"

The blonde sighed and shook her head. "It's no big deal Libby, really."

Her friend's eyebrows pulled together. "Are you sure? Because I can-"

"No, don't worry about it." Cindy assured her. "I'll be busy anyway."

_You can probably guess by now that I really did not have gymnastics meet. I don't know why I felt compelled to lie to her; probably because I didn't want her to feel bad. We both knew that I was lying, and I was pretty sure that Betty did to. But they couldn't prove anything and Libby didn't call me out on it. However, Jimmy cornered me later in the library…_

"Do you really have a gymnastics meet next weekend?" A voice demanded.

Cindy looked up from her book that she had been holding. "Beg pardon?"

"You heard me." Jimmy responded.

Cindy sighed and laid her book aside, finally looking up at her long lost crush. "What do you think?" She whispered.

He sighed and took a seat next to her. "Cindy, look, just ignore Betty. Come anyway."

"Neutron, do you have any idea what kind of chaos that would cause?"

The male genius looked down at the ground. "I know." He whispered, "But I really want you there." At those words Cindy looked over at him in shock but he continued. "And I'm sorry about Betty. She really isn't that bad when you get to know her."

"Somehow I doubt that."

_A part of me hated to be so short with him, but another part of me was getting frustrated. Didn't he see how she treated me? Didn't he understand the pain she caused me? My life was falling apart as it was…_

Neither of them said anything for a long time. Finally Jimmy spoke. "Well, if you don't want Betty to find out, you might want to at least plan on being out of town that day."

_He did have a point._

"I will." Cindy said as she stood up. "Have fun at Betty's party." As she walked away she could have sworn she heard him say, "Without you? Fat chance."

"_But apparently he could. I spent the weekend in Dallas, chaperoning the elementary school age girls' meet with Coach Zhou. Jimmy, according to Libby amongst others, spent the most of the weekend drunk and making out with Betty. I hated it, hated what she had done to him. He still invented and was still on constant watch by NASA of course, but there were certain behaviors that he had never done before, like drinking, that seemed to run amuck when he was with Betty. I knew it wasn't all her fault of course, you can only change with your permission, but it was, and still is, easier to blame her."_


	3. Give A Little Bit

**_Author's Note: Yay for sick days! Sorry for the delay everyone!_**

_"So tell me about Jimmy."_

_Cindy sighed and leaned back in the chair. "What is there to tell? He's a friend. At least, he used to be. I'm not so sure anymore."_

_"Just a friend?"_

_Cindy sat up suddenly and faced the therapist. "Yes. Why?"_

_Dr. Bliss clicked her pen, eyeing the girl sitting across from her. "Cindy, you know I don't buy that." Cindy was silent and Dr. Bliss continued. "He's special to you. I hear the longing and anger in your voice when you talk about him."_

_At that the green-eyed girl scoffed. "Look its nothing. He's nothing."_

_Dr. Bliss was silent, but didn't push the issue. "What happened when you got back from the meet?"_

_"Obviously all anyone could take about was Betty's party. I went through the day listening to the gossip of the latest hookups, breakups, and drunken going-ons. Of course, every time I tried to join in the conversations I was repeatedly rejected. I kept getting dirty looks and people kept ignoring me. Finally, I managed to corner Libby and begged her to tell me what was going on."_

"What? What's going on?" Libby demanded as Cindy dragged her from the hallway into the bathroom. "Geesh, Cin," she grumbled as she rubbed her forearm. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" The blonde raved. "My problem is that people have been ignoring at me and glaring at me all day!"

Libby muttered something under her breath and looked at the floor. "What?" Cindy inquired. Libby sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling. "Look, Cind, Betty…Betty said some things at the party about you."

Libby winced. "Like, like you're a whore. That you play up the orphan card to get sympathy from people."

"That's not all." Cindy said as she looked at her best friend. "What else did she say?"

"She said-she said that you were trying to take Jimmy away from her. That you were trying to seduce him and she saw you do it one day in the library."

Cindy shook her head in disbelief. "That bitch." She muttered.

Libby sighed and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I know."

"So, who believes her?"

"Almost everyone. I left shortly after that so I'm sure she said some other things about you as well."

"Probably." Cindy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "As if I didn't have enough to deal with."

"_Maybe I should have been more worried about it then I was. But on one hand, I didn't really get what Betty was gaining from spreading rumors like that. I wasn't popular to begin with; Libby was pretty much my only friend, so I wasn't losing anything there. She was just one of those people who needed to make someone feel miserable all the time and that person was me. It was difficult but I managed to relatively ignore all the snide remarks and glares I was getting over the course of the day. I had more important things on my mind anyway. Namely, the Regional Meet the coming weekend. Rumor had it that there would be scouts there for the Women's Olympic Gymnastics Meet."_

_"But?"_

_Cindy looked over at Dr. Bliss. "But what?" _

_The therapist leaned forward. "I can tell by your tone of voice Cindy. Something happened and you were about to skip over it."_

_"I wasn't-"_

_Her therapist leveled her with a gaze. "Cindy-"_

_"Okay fine. My morning was bearable. But the real hell happened after lunch. I was walking back to my locker with Libby following Art History-"_

"I'm just saying, why did we take this class again?"

Cindy shrugged, "Because you said it sounded interesting." She reminded her best friend as they rounded the corner to her locker.

"Interesting not-" Libby suddenly stopped. "Oh my god."

"What?" Cindy asked but Libby just pointed. Cindy turned her head to look at her locker.

_"The whole thing had been spray-painted with the words 'slut,''whore,' and other things that I really don't care to repeat. People around me snickered and whispered, Libby seemed in a state of shock and I couldn't do anything myself. I just stood there unsure what to do. That's when I heard a whisper in my ear of "Surprise!" and felt something being dumped on me. Paint. Red paint. I whirled around to see Betty and her minion Brittney smirking. "What goes around comes around orphan slut." She hissed._

Cindy shook her head. "Nothing happened." She growled. "And you know it."

"Deny, deny, deny." Betty said rolling her eyes. "How pathetic."

_Something inside me just snapped. I had taken enough of her shit for years but this, this was too much. Before I knew what was happening I slapped her across the face, hard. She doubled over and I went to beat the crap out of her. But before I could someone pulled me back._

"Don't." Jimmy hissed in the blonde's ear. "Leave it Cindy."

"But-"

That's when a voice shouted, "What's going on here? Miss Quinlan! Miss Vortex!" Various students scattered about as Principal Nold came thundering into the crowd. "What happened?"

No one knew what to say. Betty and Brittney froze the can of paint still in their hands. Libby was still standing next to me and Jimmy still had me in a death grip. "My office! NOW!"

_I was the last one to go in. I knew how this was going to go down. Betty's dad was on the school board. She'd get off easy. I was most likely to be expelled or something like that since I was, well, me. I watched as one by one the others went into the office , were in there for a few moments, then left. Brittney ignored me completely, Betty hissed at me "Good luck slut." Libby told me everything was going to be okay and to call her tonight and Jimmy…Jimmy gave me a long hug and said that he wished he could do more._

_I was still pondering that one when it was my turn. Luckily, the paint had almost dried._

"Miss Vortex, have a seat." Principal Nold said as he gestured to the seat across from his desk. Cindy sat and he continued. "Cindy what happened?"

The blonde shrugged. "You probably already know from what everyone else told you. Since my testimony won't make a bit of difference, why are you wasted your time?"

He looked at her curiously. "You're covered in paint and your locker was spray painted with obscenities. You don't have anything to say?"

Cindy sighed, leaned forward, and rested her head in her hands. "With all due respect Principal Nold, I know how this is going to go. I'm going to get suspended and Betty is going to get off with a warning so if you don't mind, I have places to be. Just tell me how long I'm suspended for and I'll be on my way."

_"I was shocked to find out that I wasn't going to get suspended. Apparently, several students had come forward in my defense (although who I haven't a clue) and said that I was an innocent bystander. Jimmy and Libby had also echoed their testimonies. However, I did get two days of detention for slapping Betty which was totally worth it in my book. While, like I thought, Betty wasn't going to get expelled she was going to get detention for two months and she'd have to do school cleaning on the weekends. It wasn't much but it was something."_

"Cindy." Principal Nold said as she was leaving. Reluctantly, she turned around. "I know that you have had some…scuffles with Betty in the past and well, if she pulls something again, please come talk to me."

_"Three shocks in one day. Jimmy being on my side, not getting suspended, and now this. It was odd, having someone on my side for once and having someone actually care."_

Cindy smiled. "I will sir. Thank you."

The principal smiled back. "You're welcome. I've excused you for the last class period so why don't you go home and change?"

"Yes sir. Thank you."

_"So I went home, cleaned up, and went to the studio. While working on my routine my mind went through the events of that afternoon. I still couldn't believe- That's when I heard someone clearing their throat. I looked up to see Jimmy standing on the edge of the mat._

"Hey," The green-eyed girl greeted him as she stood up.

He smiled. "Hey, um, do you have a minute?"

Cindy nodded and went over to where he was standing. "Of course. What's up?"

He rubbed the back of his neck before responding, "I wanted to apologize."

"You? For what?"

"For everything I suppose." The teenage genius sighed and sat down on the edge of the mat, pulling Cindy down with him. "All this crap with Betty. I should have been more alert to what was going on and what she did this afternoon," He shook his head. "It was unforgiveable. I haven't been a very good friend and I'm sorry. She was a horrible girlfriend."

"Was?"

Jimmy sighed again. "We broke up this afternoon. I didn't take kindly to her pouring paint on you and she didn't take kindly to me taking your side." He grinned and nudged her side. "But it was the right thing to do. And I like you better anyway."

_"I didn't know what to say. I really didn't. He broke up with her AND he liked me better? There were so many things I wanted to say, so many things I wanted to ask. But finally I just nodded and told him it was okay. And oddly enough, it really felt like it was okay. It was an odd feeling."_

"Well, it's nice of you to think that but we both know it's not." Jimmy turned to her, a small smile on his lips. "But, if it's okay with you, I'd like to take you out to dinner to try and make up for it."

Cindy smiled back. "I'd like that."

**A/N: Yay Jimmy/Cindyness! I just couldn't write anymore Jimmy/Betty as it was KILLING ME. Plus there's no way anyone, especially Jimmy, would be that dense to what a horrible person Betty is. Unfortunately, Betty will be popping up in a couple more chapters (every story has to have a villian right?) ;) But at least no more Jimmy dating Betty! HUZZAH! Anyway, as always, please R&R!**


End file.
